Under The Mask
by UnknownTitans
Summary: The return of the masked enigma!
1. Graveyard Shift

**Chapter 1 – Graveyard shift**

The warm summer night air brushed passed Robin as he strolled along the empty sidewalk. Tonight he had opted out of taking his bike and decided on the more peaceful approach of walking the streets, his legs would curse him for it tomorrow. Beast Boy had meant to be accompanying him tonight but due to him deciding that watching 'Wicked Scary 7' with Raven as some vain way to impress her, was more important than protecting the city it meant that Robin was taking the graveyard shift alone tonight. He found the peace and quiet without Beast Boy to be quite enjoyable anyhow so his absence wasn't of concern to him. Flipping open his communicator he glanced at the flashing text of 1:02AM, sighing he rubbed his eyes. "Another hour and I can be in bed" he said reassuringly to himself. He smirked as he imagined the warm, inviting embrace of Starfire as she laid in his bed waiting for him to return. It really was the thing that made these shifts worthwhile.

Smiling, he closed his communicator and scanned the area around him, warehouse after warehouse covered the space on either side of the road. He had not seen any activity all week let alone tonight and the idea of being snuggled up to his girlfriend was much too tempting over aimlessly wandering these streets alone. Surely the city wouldn't mind too much if he took a night off, right? He smirked to himself as he began to turn back towards his parked bike but his face fell when he saw a silhouette scaling one of the warehouses. "For fucks sake" he growled under his breath and reluctantly he sprinted off to follow the crook. Scaling the wall with relative ease he peered through the window into the dark warehouse below him and in amongst the pitch blackness he spotted the faint glow of a torch flickering around the ground level. Being as silent as possible he climbed through the window and descended to the ground.

Peering around one of the large shelves he spotted the crook, Red X. He should have guessed by the level of agility at which the criminal had scaled the warehouse with but he was surprised to be seeing him. The last time the Titans had fought him was long before their trip to Tokyo, they presumed he had just left the city, but to see him back was confusing. He watched as the delinquent pried open some of the crates littering the floor and peering inside, what was he looking for? Xenothium? That didn't seem possible considering the city had been almost wiped clean of the substance. Something expensive? The serious confusion was evident on Robin's face as he watched the thief retrieve some large glass bottles from a crate before shining a torch on them. Squinting, Robin spotted that the fluid inside was clear, was Red X stealing Vodka? He shook his head, regardless of how odd the item was, Red X had been foolish enough to show his face in the city again and Robin wasn't letting him get away this time.

As Robin began to make his way towards the unaware thief, his foot connected with the strewn crowbar that lay beside one of the opened crates. Red X's head snapped in his direction before shifting into a full pace sprint towards another set of windows. Growling in frustration he bolted after the thief and quickly began closing the distance between them. Rooftop after rooftop the two acrobats leapt and Robin's exhaustion mixed with frustration were causing him to fall behind as the nimble thief repeatedly evaded his grasp. Having no other plan, Robin quickly reached into his pocket and hurled a birdarang in the thief's direction. His opponent twisted around almost expecting the blade and quickly tossed one of his own X projectiles that flew narrowly under the hurtling birdarang and collided with Robin sticking him to the wall behind him. Fortunately for the exhausted Boy Wonder his projectile found its destination, lodging itself into the buckle of Red X's Xenothium belt.

Red X looked down to his belt and began to frantically attempt to pull out the embedded projectile, swearing profusely as he cut his hand on the sharp blade. "Fuck you, Dick". After a few more tugs he dislodged the blade and without warning his belt activated, shimmering him away.

Robin rapidly began cutting himself free from the resin like substance that was pinning him to the wall, and with a few precision cuts he had successfully dislodged himself. He pounded his fist against the floor in aggravation at the criminal escaping yet again. His eyes widened as the thief's words reappeared in his mind. He knew his name.

 **End of Chapter 1**


	2. Investigation

_**Previously:**_

 _Robin rapidly began cutting himself free from the resin like substance that was pinning him to the wall, and with a few precision cuts he had successfully dislodged himself. He pounded his fist against the floor in aggravation at the criminal escaping yet again. His eyes widened as the thief's words reappeared in his mind. He knew his name._

* * *

 **Chapter 2 – Investigation**

The inky blackness of the night way quickly fading to a multitude of reds, oranges and purples as the sun rose over the Jump City bay, and yet the exhausted leader still sat at his command station. To say the previous night's incident had been a shock would be a drastic understatement. His return to the tower that night had been one wrought with stress, anxiety and overall panic. His identity, his most important possession had been compromised and was known by a petty thief, he couldn't even bare to think of other criminals who could also know by now. By allowing another person to figure it out he had put not only his own identity but also that of Bruce and any of the others in Gotham at risk, he could already picture the damage that could be caused if criminals back in Gotham got that information…

His plans to go home and cuddle with his girlfriend, had been utterly smashed to pieces and extremely reluctantly he had explained to Starfire the reason he wouldn't be doing much sleeping that night. Her tone of understanding helped his mind slightly, he had gave her the brief rundown of the events of the night and she was understanding as to why he needed to work and with a smile, more for his sake than for her own and a promise they would find Red X, she left him to his work. And this position at his desk furiously checking every online record of his team and date file on Red X, is where he had stayed as the world around him slept.

He wasn't going to believe for a second that a petty thief would have been able to figure out such a closely guarded secret. Save for the odd wacky, discredited conspiracy theories, he couldn't find any solid information that would link Dick Grayson to Robin in any way, so that meant that it would have to have been another criminal who worked it out and then relayed the information to X. He didn't really understand how that could be possible since none of the Titans' enemies showed enough intelligence to have worked it out let alone share such a secret, even a genius like Slade didn't seem to know the answer, that or he at least didn't seem interested in sharing it. The only person he knew that had his identity was the Lance Armstrong of weight lifting, Bane. But the likelihood that a petty criminal like Red X would be able to persuade Bane to spill the beans is beyond unlikely.

What troubled him the most was the tone in which his name was said, behind the anger and annoyance he had said the name casually, as If it was something that accidentally slipped out. Looking to his left out of the window he saw that Sol had already took his place firmly on the horizon. His search had come up nothing and with his eyelids feeling like dumbbells, he groggily lifted himself from his chair and flopped onto his bed. Sinking into the inviting abyss, he hoped that the rest would aid his troubled mind.

* * *

A sweet smell permeated his nostrils as he slowly awoke from his exhausted rest, reaching his arm forwards to pull the pillow more securely to his face he felt his arm collide with a warm body in front of him. He cracked open one of his eyes and he smiled as his eyes focused on the sleeping form of Starfire laid next to him, her arms sprawled around him like a cocoon. He sat up gently to attempt not to wake her but sensing the loss of contact she also rose soon after. Blinking a few times between yawns she smiled at her boyfriend "Greetings"

"When did you come in, Kory? I've only been asleep for…" he trailed off as he noticed the clock and he chuckled awkwardly "…like 8 hours"

She giggled "I came in to see if you wished to join us for lunch but you were asleep. You looked most comfortable and so I decided to join you. I do not like to be apart from you during sleeping cycles"

"Neither do I" he replied with a loving smile "Where are the others?"

"They have tasked themselves in tracking down the Red X"

His face fell slightly "You didn't need to tell them. He's my burden to deal with"

"It is all of our burden, Richard" she lightly scolded, "his knowledge presents a threat to our leader and so it presents a threat to our team."

He nodded resolutely "Did you manage to find anything?"

"Before I joined you, our friends had found some security camera footage showing that he had visited specific places numerous times over the last few weeks. One of these locations appeared to be some sort of living accommodation"

"So, he has a base?"

"From what our current information suggests, it is less of a base and more of a warehouse" she replied as she idly stroked her hand up and down his back. She noticed that there was a few new purple bruises that had formed and despite having seen him in worse condition, she still found the marks somewhat disturbing. Hearing him hiss as her hand brushed against one of the bruises, she quickly withdrew her hand.

He sat up more firmly and pressed his back against the wall, scratching his head in confusion "How can it have been this easy to find him? He never even left a trace the last time we dealt with him"

She shrugged "It appears he has been unfocused in his security. Perhaps he no longer believes we will target him, it has been over a year since we last did battle with him"

He nodded, "Yeah, well I doubt he's planning on sticking around now that we know he's back"

* * *

Robin strolled into the common room, and spotting the others working around the main screen he took a standing position at their side. "Starfire told me you guys found a possible location for Red X"

Cyborg turned to look at his leader "Yeah, sure have" he paused for a moment in thought before a playful smirk spread across his face "Ohhhh, so that's where she's been for the last 5 hours. Rob, I can't tell if 5 hours is a good thing or a bad thing"

Robin sighed, "We were asleep"

"Oh yeah? That what you kids are calling it these days?", the smirk never leaving the half robot's face as he called to his green friend "Hey BB! Star was 'asleep' with Robin, hand over that $5"

Dark energy encircled the giant teenager and he and Beast Boy were tossed over to the couch. Raven moved to take the vacant spot where Cyborg was stood and sighed "Idiots" she muttered "It appears that he's bringing friends to this place of his"

Robin's eyebrow arched "What do you mean?"

"From the CCTV footage a lot of people seem to show up. And judging from the look of the guests, it isn't some secret villains meetup" she said gesturing to the screen

Robin watched as groups of girls in low cut skirts with high heels, and guys plastered with tattoos swarmed into the building. Robin was perplexed to say the least, memories of the crates of vodka from the previous night flooded his mind and things started to connect "So Red X has started his own night club?"

"Looks that way doesn't it?" she replied with a similarly confused look "So how are we dealing with this?"

Robin paused for a minute before a wry smirk spread across his face "Let's go Gatecrash his little party"

 **End of Chapter 2**


	3. Gatecrashing

_**Previously:**_

 _Robin watched as groups of girls in low cut dresses with high heels, and guys plastered with tattoos swarmed into the building. Robin was perplexed to say the least, memories of the crates of vodka from the previous night flooded his mind and things started to connect "So Red X has started his own night club?"_

" _Looks that way doesn't it?" she replied with a similarly confused look "So how are we dealing with this?"_

 _Robin paused for a minute before a wry smirk spread across his face "Let's go Gatecrash his little party"_

* * *

 **Chapter 3 – Gatecrashing**

As the 5 teenagers wandered down the abandoned streets leading to the cluster of warehouses located just outside the industrial sector of the city, Robin took a moment to admire the oddity of the others around him. The plan they devised was to enter the party unnoticed and wait until Red X showed himself before they struck, and to be successful in this task they needed to blend in, and that meant them looking like normal teenagers. Which is why Cyborg's ingenious invention was being put to good use because the other 4 were all wearing hologram rings. Raven and Starfire used them to simply alter their skin tone so they didn't stand out as much. Cyborg's appearance was the same as his stint as Stone but by far the most bizarre was Beast Boy. His blond hair and pale white skin was a jarring thing to see and even he seemed to be bothered by it, shockingly he had revealed that this was his natural appearance and if not for the disease, this would probably be exactly how he would look.

As for their outfits they had to look the part so Robin had donned his white leather jacket and shades that seemed to have disguised him sufficiently back in Tokyo. Cyborg and Beast Boy followed suit but opted for black leather instead. Raven in typical fashion was not interested in dressing up for the occasion and so wore a standard sweatshirt and jeans. Starfire had stunned them all with a dress very similar to ones he had seen in the CCTV footage, she had explained that she had bought the dress after their last visit to a night club so that she may have "the correct attire to attend such a venue", all Robin knew was that she was keeping that dress.

As they approached the cluster of warehouses they could hear the pounding of drums piercing the large metal walls. It almost surprised them that there was no bouncers at the entrance but the illegality of the venue was most likely the explanation for this. Pushing open the riveted door Robin felt the rhythm of electric guitars and the drums hit him, he stepped forwards to allow the others to enter the building and he surveyed the area. Party-goers filled almost every available space in the warehouse and the mixture of Rock and chatter filled the air, whilst Robin found the music initially jarring he actually found the ever-changing rhythm of the music to be a pleasant change to the booming, repetitive music of the last club. He turned to look at his team and once again he had to briefly remind himself of the hologram rings, "Okay guys, we need to split up and ask people what they know about Red X. Surely some of these people must know something about him that we don't. Raven, talk to some of the people around here and see if they know anything about him. Cyborg, Beast Boy, there's some musicians off to the side of the stage, go talk to them. If X has hired them they might be friends of his. Me and Starfire will go to the bar and see what the bartender knows"

"Yeah, because that's definitely not an excuse for you two to go and get drinks" Cyborg replied dubiously

"None of us are 21 so we're not gonna drink, we're just gonna buy some drinks and see if he has any insider knowledge that he's willing to trade"

"Trade for what?" Beast Boy asked

"In exchange for us not throwing his ass in jail for serving alcohol to a room full of minors"

"That seems fair enough" Beast Boy replied with a smirk

As the team split off, Starfire and Robin made their way towards the bar. Robin resisted the urge to growl at the amount of eyes that had firmly latched themselves onto Starfire and in response he protectively put his arm around her waist. When they arrived at the counter the bartenders focus was instantly lost on whoever he was previously speaking with and was now securely on the 6ft tall super model that stood before him.

Robin didn't appreciate the grin that was forming on the bartenders face, "Two vodka and cokes", the bartender completely ignored him and kept his stare on the other much more attractive patron.

Starfire shifted uncomfortably for a moment, before she realised she could just repeat Robin's request "Two vodka and cokes, please"

The bartender grinned and began pouring the drinks, "You sure you don't want anything better? I make a mean blowjob…in more ways than one" he replied, wriggling his eyebrows slightly

Starfire's cheeks burned brightly and she struggled to think of any kind of answer, she looked over to her left and she noticed the anger that was emanating from Robin. The bartender had made a crucial error. "Richard?"

Robin was about ready to reach across the counter and knock the guy's teeth out, but the bizarre sound of chanting from behind him caught his attention. He turned and looked to the top of a flight of stairs where the others all seemed to be fixated on. Listening to the mass of people as they chanted "X…X…X", it wasn't exactly difficult to work out who they were referring to. Within moments of the chanting the skull-mask clad teenager dropped from an upper level of the warehouse onto the stairs before taking bows as the party-goers cheered.

With a raise of his hands the mob quietened, "Ladies, and gentlemen. Welcome to Corporation X! The only place in Jump City where you can actually buy drinks without a fucking ID" The crowd cheered in response before he continued in his eerie synthesised voice "enjoy the party and remember, if you're not wasted then you haven't had enough!" With another cheer he leaped off of the staircase and into the crowd below.

Robin turned back to the bartender and took the two drinks and slid a $50 bill across the counter. The bartender eyed him strangely "Dude, the drinks were 5. I don't have change for a 50"

Robin stared at the man before lowering his voice slightly, "I know you don't, that extra $45 is for you if you're willing to give me some answers"

The bartender gave Robin a threatening look "You better not be some fucking undercover junior cop or some shit"

Robin laughed forcefully "Oh I wouldn't be worried about that. I'd be more worried about the fact that you've been flirting with my girlfriend in front of me and the only thing keeping me from breaking your teeth is the fact that I need information"

The bartender gulped and receded his threatening look "Shit man, didn't mean no harm. What do you want to know?"

"Everything you've got about Red X"

The bartender lowered his voice close to a whisper, "Errm well I've hung out with him before but I barely know anything about the kid"

"Have you ever seen his face, or heard his name?"

"Of course I've seen his face, he doesn't wear the suit unless he's at this place. He's never told me his name though, I've always just called him 'X' or 'Red'"

Robin felt like he had hit a gold mine, "What does he look like?"

The bartender stared at Robin for a moment, "Come to think of it he actually looks quite a lot like you, same black hair, similar style as well-" he cut himself off as he saw Red X passing through the crowd and heading for the bar.

Robin tensed as the criminal took a stand at his left before leaning over the counter to pour himself a drink. "Sup, Greg" the thief greeted.

"Hey X" the bartender replied nervously, shifting his gaze between Robin and Red X

Red X titled his head quizzically, "Something wrong?"

"Nah man, I'm good" his voice shook slightly with his apparent nervousness

Red X tilted his head again but seemed to drop the subject as he necked the shot he had poured himself, he turned his head to look around the bar but his gaze locked onto Starfire and with a grin he strolled around so that he was now on the right of her. "Hi gorgeous, you look familiar, haven't we met before?"

Starfire smiled uncomfortably, "I do not believe so"

"You sure?" he said, resting his hand on her back

Starfire felt a mix of shock and annoyance, Robin, her boyfriend, was sat right next to her and yet Red X was still trying to hit on her. She also didn't appreciate the physical contact he was making and by the growl Robin was desperately trying to supress, it seemed he wasn't either. "I am certain we have not met before"

"Ah well there's a first time for everything then" his hand seemed to have lowered down her back slightly and she was resisting the urge to indent his face. "Let me get you a drink"

"I do not wish to have a-"

"Greg, grab me that bottle of Jager from the back will ya?" the thief insisted

As the bartender began rummaging, Robin took Starfire's arm and led them away from the bar. It was obvious he was holding back the urge to knock out Red X's teeth, and for that Starfire was grateful. "Team, report" he said as he pushed the button on his earpiece.

"Nothing here, people just know him for his parties" Raven responded quickly

After a few moments Cyborg's voice also came through "Yeah same, the musicians don't know anything either. They say their payment is free alcohol and promotion for their band so they don't question anything"

"The bartender is a friend of his, says he's seen him without his suit but X came to the bar as he was talking" Robin paused for a moment as he looked back to where Red X was sat. We can't let him leave tonight, we need to come up with a plan to capture him, and quickly"

Starfire tapped his shoulder gently before leaning in to whisper in his ear "Red X seemed to be interested in conversing with me, perhaps if I pretended to reciprocate the interest he may reveal information to me?"

Robin's eyes bulged in his head, "As if I'm gonna let him get anywhere near you"

Starfire stroked his arm reassuringly, "I will not allow him to touch me. I will simply trick him into believing that I am going home with him and then we may capture him"

"I don't like this" Robin said with an annoyed sigh, "surely there must be another alternative"

"I don't think so" Raven interjected as she arrived at their side, "the only other option is capturing him here and I doubt that will go well. There's too many people and it would be too easy for him to escape. I think Starfire's plan is the most likely to work"

Robin was silent for a moment, "Fine…but if he touches you!"

"Then I will invert his nose" she replied sweetly

"Good girl" he replied with a smirk, watching her head back over to the bar

"Where the hell have you two been?" Raven asked as she spotted the pair moving through the crowd

"Sorry guys, some of the ladies here were very interested in talking to Victor" Cyborg replied with a smirk.

"Hey! They were interested in me too!" Beast Boy whined

"Maybe if you had actually said anything, instead of just standing there like a dumbass drooling, grass stain" Cyborg replied with a laugh

"We're not here to pick up girls Cy. Starfire is getting Red X to take her to his place so we can track him" Robin informed

Cyborg looked baffled "And you're okay with some asshole hitting on your girlfriend?"

Robin's painful, forced nod was enough of an answer to that question.

 **End of Chapter 3**

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

A "blowjob" is Irish cream whiskey mixed with amaretto, coffee liqueur and whipped cream. Obviously it was just included as an innuendo from the guy at the bar. Also if you've seen the movie Deadpool then you'll have seen one being made.


	4. Home Visit

_**Previously:**_

" _We're not here to pick up girls Cy. Starfire is getting Red X to take her to his place so we can track him" Robin informed_

 _Cyborg looked baffled "And you're okay with some asshole hitting on your girlfriend?"_

 _Robin's painful, forced nod was enough of an answer to that question._

* * *

 **Chapter 4 – Home Visit**

The night air had cooled quite substantially over the passing hours spent in the club, four of the five who had entered were now shrouded in the shadows of the alleyway outside the warehouse. The plan had worked and Red X had fell hook, line and sinker into Starfire's cunning plan, it was safe to say Robin was not thrilled as Red X tried to make his moves on her and it pained him even more to hear her return some of the flirting, regardless that it was an act. The four edged their way silently along the wall as they watched the thief and his 'apparent' conquest for the night, make their way over to the bike. He handed her a helmet and whilst she placed it on her head she nimbly slipped a small tracking device to the underside of the seat, after a few moments and an affirmatory nod they blazed off down the street.

Robin smirked as Starfire's plan began to unfold and he quickly he flipped open his communicator and watched the blinking red dot flash on the screen. "Trackers in place. We need to keep our distance though so he doesn't see the car coming. Starfire will signal us when they get off the bike".

With a collective nod they climbed in their car and began the steady pursuit. The car was silent for a while before Raven let out an irritated sigh and grabbed hold of Beast Boy's hand. He stared at her in wild confusion as she began fidgeting with his hand, but after a few moments she let out a sigh of relief as she tugged the hologram ring from his finger. The three boys stared at her strangely, "You okay there, Raven?" Robin asked nervously.

She seemed to finally realise how bizarre the action was and her face flushed, "The normal skin tone and the hair…it was freaking me out" she elaborated.

Robin and Cyborg withdrew their attention but a wry smirk spread of Beast Boy's face, "What did I tell you guys? Chicks dig the green", he turned his head to smirk at Raven but at the dangerous glare she was sending him, he decided against further jokes.

* * *

Robin was baffled as the signal led them to one of the richer districts of Jump City, he couldn't imagine it would be a good place for a criminal to lay low but as they turned onto the street the tracker was located, he guessed he was wrong. He drew the other Titans attentions to the very expensive looking apartment block and noticed the garage where the bike was no doubt parked.

Slipping off their hologram rings they made their way over to entrance and within moments of Cyborg connecting his arm to the key-card system, the doors were unlocked. As they made their way inside, Robin changed the communicator to locate the small tracking device that was in Starfire's earpiece. The device was active which meant Starfire had activated it to alert them that they were in his apartment. Within moments the 4 teenagers stood outside door 426, and placing his mask firmly over his eyes Robin raised his foot to the door and with one strong kick, the object fell forwards with a thump.

Not far from the doorway stood Starfire and Red X, who was uncomfortably close to his girlfriend for Robin's liking. Red X turned in panic to look at the door, "Oh fuck" he uttered in shock. He went to quickly grab for his belt but when his reach came up empty he looked to the right to see the smirking alien dangling it in front of him. He shifted into a fighting stance and began to charge in Robin's direction but the underside of a boot colliding with his face, had already decided otherwise.

* * *

Red X woke with a start and immediately began to struggle against the chair he had been tied to, his feeble efforts got him nothing but friction burns on his arms and so quickly his struggles stopped. He looked up sombrely at the smirking face of the Boy Wonder who stood over him.

"Hi X. How's the face feeling?" the mocking voice asked. In response for his tone he received silence but this only served to aid the humour, "oh, don't feel like talking now do you? Maybe you would without your little mask"

Red X was silent once again, his playful mocking and wit seemed to be gone as he accepted his defeat

"First I want to ask you a question. How do you know my name?"

Red X smirked behind his mask

"Fine" Robin replied indignantly, with a firm grip he grasped the mask and yanked it over the boy's face

The others stared in confusion, at the boy's face. A lightbulb illuminated in Beast Boy's head and he pointed at the boy's face "Jason Todd!...Guys, I so called it!"

Robin glared wordlessly at the boy and the boy returned the glare, "What's up bro? Not who you expected?"

In a swift movement, Robin reeled back his fist and smashed it painfully into the boy's nose. Starfire watched in shock before quickly running over and pulling Robin away from the boy. "Richard!" she scolded, "we do not damage disarmed criminals"

Robin regarded her for a moment and his urge to knock his adopted brother's teeth out subsided slightly.

"Ooooo…Richard. I've never heard someone allowed to call you that before. Must be some special piece of ass you've got there Dick"

Robin stalked back over to the boy and lifted him up from his chair, "Want me to break that nose, Jason?"

"What? It's not my fault your girlfriend wanted to bang me" he replied with a smirk

Starfire made a sound of repulsion as she came to stand at Robin's side, "I can assure you that I hold no attraction for someone like you"

"Plus, you're like 16 dude. Who the hell's gonna 'bang' you?" Cyborg added with a laugh

"Fuck off, RoboCop" Jason spat back

Cyborg was tempted to blast the boy with his canon but he thought it was best that Robin be left to deal with this situation. Robin grabbed Jason by his collar, "Why?"

"Broad question don't you think?" Jason replied with smirk

Robin growled, "Why the fuck have you been masquerading as a criminal?"

"Jump City looked like a cool place to be" he paused and smirked at the group "good opportunity to mess with the fabled Teen Titans as well" he added with mock awe.

"Do you think I'm stupid enough to believe that"

"That something you want answered, Dickie?"

"You think I'd believe you'd move to the entire opposite side of America just because you thought 'Jump City looked cool'. You came to spy on me for Bruce"

Jason scoffed "What makes you think that?"

"Who else could possibly know the location of the suit and how to access it. I've guessed for a while that Bruce had the tower bugged at some point so he could keep watch of us"

"But if that's the case then why all the random attacks against us? You never got anything out of it" Raven asked suspiciously

Jason smirked "Fine. You know what? I'll tell you. Bruce decided that as part of my training it would be best to study you, and for that I needed a disguise. So Bruce filled me in on how to get past your little security systems and I stole the suit"

"But why would close contact with us be necessary if you were just wishing to study. Surely it would have been safer to watch from afar, rather than actively intervening with us"

"Because it wasn't just a test for you, was it Jason? It was for us…" Robin finished with a defeated sigh

Cyborg's eye widened, "Wait what, why would Batman need to test us?"

"Bruce wasn't confident your little team would work out" Jason replied with a small grin

"Everything makes sense now, the Xenothium, the briefcase…he was testing me to see how well I could keep his fucking secrets. I should have guessed that WayneTech was the one distributing the Xenothium and how easily you were able to find it. This is the exact fucking reason I left in the first place. He doesn't trust anyone but himself" Robin ranted, "I left to get away from his obsessive need for control and still he pulls shit like this"

"You're the one who knows Bruce the best, Dickie. You should have seen this coming" Jason shrugged

"I guess, I just held too much hope that he would change. He'll always be the same bitter, paranoid old bas-"

Starfire took Robin's hand "He is still your father, Richard. His ways may be" she paused for a moment as she thought of a description "unorthodox…however I am sure they were as he perceived, to be in your best interest"

"That's his problem though. He doesn't think how his actions affect anyone else" he paused and turned back to Jason "Pack your shit and go back to Gotham, his little tests are over"

"You think you can just make me leave?" Jason scoffed

Robin turned on his younger brother quickly "Either you leave or I throw your ass to the police and let them deal with you. I'm sure they'd be merciful to the crook stealing the most powerful energy source on the planet. I'm giving you a chance here, don't fuck me over or you'll regret it" he said dangerously as he cut loose the ropes binding the boy to the chair. Turning his back on him, he cued the Titans towards the exit and they began to head away he once again regarded Jason "Tell Babs and Alfred, I said hi"

 **End of Chapter 4**


	5. Epilogue

_**Previously:**_

" _That's his problem though. He doesn't think how his actions affect anyone else" he paused and turned back to Jason "Pack your shit and go back to Gotham, his little tests are over"_

" _You think you can just make me leave?"_

 _Robin turned on his younger brother quickly "Either you leave or I throw your ass to the police and let them deal with you. I'm sure they'd be merciful to the crook stealing the most powerful energy source on the planet. I'm giving you a chance here, don't fuck me over or you'll regret it" he said dangerously as he cut loose the ropes binding the boy to the chair. Turning his back on him, he cued the Titans towards the exit and as they began to head away he glanced over his shoulder, "Tell Babs and Alfred, I said hi"_

* * *

 **Epilogue:**

The last peeking rays of the sun shone over the waters of the bay, the water glistening as the remaining sunbeams pierced its murky depths. The day had ended with an outcome that Robin had never expected, and the mystery of the 'Red X' had finally been put to rest. Robin had handed the belt over to Cyborg to be disassembled, it seemed better this way with no chance of it falling into another person's hands. But as the sun disappeared over the horizon he was left to look at the mask he held in his hands, it was tragically ironic that that a suit he had made to help his team had only been a hindrance to them. Opening the silver briefcase that he had kept hidden for so long, he smiled as he saw a multitude of different images from various points in his childhood. With a satisfied smile he placed the mask inside the case and flicked down the locks.

 **The End**

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 **Author's Notes:**

I really hope you enjoyed this story, I've been working on it on and off for the past couple of weeks but now that I have finished university for the year I was able to get it completed. It's been too long since I've been able to write and I plan to upload a lot more soon.

For anyone who has read "Moving Forward" you will see that the Jason from that is very different to the one here. This Jason's attitude revolves around feeling inadequate and jealous because in Bruce's eyes, Dick is still the main Robin. To me this is more true to the character of Jason Todd, especially when he later becomes Red Hood and actively tries to kill Tim Drake because he is Jason's replacement.

Fanfic ideas are always welcome, and if you would like to message me at all you can PM me on here or message me on Tumblr (same account name)


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